*Truck is licensed in Boulder as an ice cream truck and not required to have a mobile vending license

Owners and operators of food trucks are turning up the heat on Boulder officials to take a second look at regulations that some say are holding the budding industry back.

"We're all really struggling to make ends meet," Shannon Aten, owner of the Tasterie Truck, told the City Council on Wednesday night. "We're asking you to revisit the ordinance."

When the council enacted rules governing the emerging food truck industry last spring, it included restrictions on when and where the mobile food services could do business in an effort to appease brick-and-mortar restaurants -- which largely see food trucks as a threat to their customer base.

Aten told the council that while the city estimated there would be about 25 locations in the lucrative downtown area where the trucks could legally operate, it's been impossible to get permission from private property owners and to meet all the other restrictions.

"We're allowed to operate downtown, but there's all these caveats," Aten said on Thursday.

Food trucks are now allowed in public rights-of-way in industrial zones and in business, mixed-used and downtown zones with property owner approval -- but they have to steer clear of restaurants and residential districts by 150 feet.

Sean Maher, executive director of Downtown Boulder, said he thinks that most downtown restaurateurs are happy with the current rules.

"It's a simple matter of competition," he said, noting that restaurants pay thousands of dollars each month to have a downtown presence. "A food truck that pulls up and pays nothing -- it's just not fair."

'Tons of restrictions'

Lindsey Mandel, co-owner of the RollinGreens food truck, said the setback rules have made it tough to do business in Boulder. She said that her business tried to rent a space near Pearl and 21st streets, but the city rejected the plan because condos were nearby.

Mandel said that she's thankful that city leaders embraced the industry last year, but the application of the rules is making it "impossible to do business in Boulder."

"We really are so thankful... but now that we've had time to see what works and what doesn't work, a lot more things don't work," she said.

In addition to being able to compete for more business downtown, food truck operators also want permission to operate in "pods," where multiple food trucks could set up shop in a central area such as a park. Mandel said that type of clustering creates "a sense of community."

Food truck operators also have their sights set on the late-night crowd.

Currently, the regulations allow for licensed mobile food vendors to operate from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., but not longer than four consecutive hours in one spot.

Aten, the Tasterie Truck owner, said the industry wants to be able to sell to people after bars and restaurants close, especially downtown.

"There's just so many people downtown who would stop and get something," she said.

The coalition of food truck operators hasput up an online petitionasking for support to have the council to revisit the regulations. Some operators spent Tuesday and Wednesday gathering signatures at their trucks.

As of Thursday, the group had tallied about 600 signatures.

'Small step'

Boulder resident Deb Kolaras is among the signers.

"I think that what people forget is that some restaurants start out with something like this," Kolaras said Thursday. "I think it's the small step toward bigger things. Curtailing that, I think, is a little bit shortsighted."

Rayme Rosello, who owns the Comida food truck, opened a restaurant called Comida Cantina in Longmont's Prospect Neighborhood last month. She has said that it wouldn't have been possible to open a traditional restaurant without first building her reputation and customer base through her bright-pink food truck.

For now, it doesn't seem likely that the council will take up the issue.

Sarah Huntley, a city spokeswoman, said staffers are exploring the possibility of allowing food trucks in parks, but there are no current plans for a comprehensive review this year. And none of the council members indicated an interest in revisiting the rules Wednesday night.

Councilman George Karakehian said he would be OK with having food trucks work out an arrangement with the city to operate in parks, but his sense is that the downtown restaurants have "spoken pretty loudly" about their concerns.

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